Amazing New Mexico:

Ruidoso & Lincoln County

By: Stan Paregien

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This is a collection of our memories and photos from our vacation in Lincoln County, New Mexico during June 1-6 of 2022. Peggy and I were joined by our son and his wife, Becky & Stan Paregien, JR (Lt. Col. USAF, retired). It shows the breath-taking beauty of the mountains and forests.

We flew into El Paso, and drove straight to the Dona Ana County, New Mexico towns of Mesilla and Las Cruces. We spent most of our time in Ruidoso. We toured the nearby impressive Inn of the Mountain Gods. And we traveled to Alto for the dinner and cowboy music show at the Flying J Ranch. Later, we saw the Smokey the Bear Historical Site in Capitan.

We drove to Lincoln to see jail from which Billy the Kid escaped while killing two deputies. We toured Fort Stanton and marveled at the buildings so well preserved since 1852. One day, we toured the historic St. Joseph’s Apache Mission church in Mescalero, NM (Otero County) then went some 26 miles south to visit the village of Cloudcroft.

Finally, on the way back we stopped to see the world’s biggest pistachio nut in Alamogordo, NM. Then we drove by the tall Franklin Mountains into the thriving West Texas city of El Paso.